Fiat Cinquecento named European Car of the Year

Fiat's Cinquecento has won the 2008 European Car of the Year (Coty) award.

The Fiat Panda-based, retro car scored 385 votes from the 58 European judges (including The Daily Telegraph's motoring correspondent, Andrew English) against the second-placed Mazda2, which scored 325 points, and the Ford Mondeo (202 points). The Cinquecento scored votes from 57 out of 58 members of the jury and 33 of them included it as their favourite car.

This is the 12th Fiat Group car to have won the award since it was instigated in 1964. It is also the first time that Andrew English has personally voted for the winning car - hurrah!

The Polish-built, two-door Cinquecento goes on sale in the UK next year starting at £7,900. In Europe, where it is already on sale, the little Fiat has captured more than 14 per cent of the A-segment market. A high-performance Abarth model arrives next year and a drophead and a small MPV version are likely to follow.